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Sunday, February 17, 2013

The cross examination of the seventh prosecution witness Abdul Mojid Palowan in the case of Molla continued with the defence lawyer Abdus Sobahan Torofdar asking the questions. This followed on from the previous day.

Defence: The village you mentioned in your statement consisting of five wards, what is the shape of it?

Witness: It is square in shape.

Defence: What is the position of your house inside the village? In which side?

Witness: My house is almost in the middle of the village. It is in Ghatarchor, Khalpar and is situated in ward number five.

Defence: You said your house is in ‘Khalpar’ (Lake side), so what is the location of the lake?

Witness: There is no lake. It is just a name of the place.

Defence: What is the distance between your village and Keranigonj Thana?

Witness: It is in the southern side and around 3 km from Kerangonj.

Defence: What was the percentage of Awami League supporter in your village in 1971?

Witness: Apart from 2-3% people, all the people were Awami League Supporter.

Defence: What is the name of your primary school?

Witness: The name of my primary school is Pachdana Primary School.

Defence: Can you tell me your age while studying in class 1?

Witness: I was 7/8 years old.

Defence: Can you tell the name of few older people who were your neighbours during the liberation war?

Defence: When did you go out of your house in 25 November, 1971? At what time?

Witness: I cannot say.

Defence: Was Ghatarchor School a primary school during the liberation war?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: In which side of the school the field is situated?

Witness: It is in the east side.

Defence: It was an open field/ play ground.

Witness: Yes.

Defence: Did you have electricity in your village during the liberation war?

Witness: No.

Defence: Lamp or hurricane was mainly used at night in that time.

Witness: Yes.

Defence: Whose house is on the north side of your house?

Witness: Nuddu Miah.

Defence: Whose house is on the south side of your house?

Witness: No house was there. There was an agricultural filed.

Defence: Whose house is on the east side of your house?

Witness: Kofil Uddin Bepari.

Defence: Whose house is on the west side of your house?

Witness: There was another agricultural field.

Defence: Your house is in which side of Moktar Hossain’s house?

Witness: On the east side.

Defence: How far is his house from your house?

Witness: After 3 houses from my house.

Defence: Is he alive?

Witness: Yes.

Defence: Where does he live?

Witness: I heard that he lives in his village home in Narayangonj with his family.

Defence: Where was his family during the liberation war?

Witness: In our village.

Defence: How many children he had?

Witness: I saw his one son and he was around 2 years old.

Defence: What was his profession?

Witness: He was a government employee but I don’t know exactly in which department.

Defence: How many co-sharer he had?

Witness: He had 2 brothers and 2 sisters. He was the brother-in-law of Joynal Akhter and they lived in the same house.

Defence: Can you tell me the number of Pakistani soldiers who entered in the village on the day of the incident?

Witness: They were around 200 in number.

Defence: How did they pass through the village? By foot or by car?

Witness: I saw them walking towards the river and then they left riding on big launch.

Defence: What was the name of the river which your family crossed?

Witness: It was a branch of Burigonga river.

Defence: What was the transport system for crossing the river?

Witness: By small boats mostly.

Defence: Was it possible to get to the other side of the river?

Witness: Yes, it is a narrow one.

Justice A.T.M. Fazle Kbir: Please do not waste the time. You are proceeding very slowly with non-relevant questions. On the next hearing please come out of the river side! The next hearing is on tomorrow 10:30am.

About Me

This is a personal blog, and any views are solely mine. I am a Bangladesh based journalist who has since August 2010 worked as Editor, Special Reports for the Bangladesh national newspaper, New Age (see my other blog on the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh: http://bangladeshwarcrimes.blogspot.com) Prior to working at New Age, between March and September 2010, I worked as a senior editor and reporter at the news website, bdnews24.com and before that I spent seven months at the Bangladesh newspaper, the Daily Star, setting up a small investigations unit. Between 2000 and 2009, I was the Executive Director of the Centre for Corporate Accountability, a UK based not-for-profit organisation concerned with workplace safety. Before that, I worked as a Television journalist and producer for about seven years working mainly for the television production company, Twenty Twenty Television in London. In 1995, I was involved in making the Royal Television Society award winning Channel Four documentary, the 'War Crimes File', a film about war crimes allegedly committed by three men during the 1971 War of Indpendence. I have lived in Dhaka since 2003.